


Hold My Hand from Across the Ocean

by RegalMisfortune



Series: Gibraltar Shenanigans [11]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: 76 is a crotchedy old man and thats ok, Gen, Guess who wrote this instead of sleeping?, It's Christmas in October Guys Whoops, Tumblr request, Zarya and Jesse are Cool Jamming Buddies, didnt edit either just posted, that's right it's me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-21 21:57:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12466780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RegalMisfortune/pseuds/RegalMisfortune
Summary: Anonymous Tumblr request for: Zarya brings around a certain omnic partner during the holidays at ye ol' Watchpoint: Gibraltar, and just about everyone has an aneurysm because /nobody knew a damn thing about them/.





	Hold My Hand from Across the Ocean

**Author's Note:**

> This is kind of loosely based after "Even the Snow in Siberia Melts Occasionally", but can be read as a stand-alone piece.
> 
>  
> 
> If you have any questions or requests, feel free to talk to me on my [tumblr!](http://regalmisfortune.tumblr.com/)

Winters this far south in Spain was nothing more than mild temperatures with winds thick with salt and humidity. The crystals of evaporated seawater that gathered at the edges of rocks were a mockery of true snow, washing away under the waves of the sea and the misting of rain.

Zarya leaned back against the couch in the common room with a quiet sigh, her fingers falling silent against the strings of her balalaika. It wasn’t like any winter in Russia- Siberia or otherwise. The humid air here lacked the crispness that herald snow, prickling at her skin. It was almost disappointing, not being able to see any beautiful white drifting from the skies this holiday.

“What’s on your mind?”

The southern drawl from her couch-mate made Zarya kick her foot a little, her longer legs an advantage as she jabbed her toes into the cowboy’s ribs. He made an interested grunt, his fingers thumping slightly against the strings of his guitar to make an eerie, jarring ring of multiple notes.

“Hey now!”

He jabbed back, his legs sprawled out across hers only managing to bump against the side of her hip, causing her to snort.

“Thinking about snow,” she admitted after she settled back down against the arm of her designated side of the couch. “I will miss it.”

“I suppose,” Jesse hummed, plucking at the strings again to play a simple scale absently. “I for one ain’t much for it. Rain doesn’t need to be shoveled.”

“Sounds like you have experience, cowman,” she teased, making do with wiggling her toes under his serape and at his ribs, only for her foot to be pinned by his metallic arm with a stifled grunt.

“More than you’d like to know,” he replied easily. “Now stop getting at my ribs, you pesky giant.”

With a small chuckle, Zarya settled back down again, plucking softly at the strings of her own instrument.

“The visitors should be arriving soon,” Jesse hummed after a moment of quiet music. “Reckon we should head down and see them?”

There was no sympathy in his tone, just a simple fact. The residents of their growing ragtag group of illegal heroes had argued back and forth with Winston as the holidays got closer and closer. Torbjorn had his entire family that he wanted to visit. Hana had her parents who were determined to see their girl after over a year, and Lena had her girlfriend. Half of Brazil would probably wind up saying they were Lucio’s relatives considering how much he talked about his neighbors and friends, and Mei still had a mother whom she wished to catch up with after ten years on ice.

There were others who didn’t have much of ways of family. The two Junkers had each other, so did Genji and Hanzo. Angela may had a brother kicking around somewhere, but she was very tight-lipped and hinted that if she did have a brother, he would be extremely busy. Winston was basically Lena’s strange hairy uncle, so he didn’t count all too much. Reinhardt had a friend whom he’d like to see again, but no family to speak of, and the cranky old man that the team picked up sometime over the summer barely left the shooting range or his room.

As for Jesse and Zarya, they didn’t have any family to speak of, and Satya said very little of the matter either. Jesse had no friends outside of what he had in Overwatch, and Zarya… well…

She hadn’t quite told anyone of that particular secret yet.

In the end, Winston gave in and agreed to let the family and other invited persons onto the base- after some extensive background checks, promises to secrecy, and wrangling together the easiest, inconspicuous plan they could make on short notice. The locals knew how to keep quiet, more than happy to even provide more supplies to their favorite local secret agency, and 76 had grudgingly agreed to pick them up with an old transport bus that they found in one of the old storage bays. Even if the two Junkers had gotten their hands on it to toggle it back into working order and 76 had made them repaint it. Four times.

Zarya felt herself frown softly at the thought of the old man. A war-hardened man, with an expressionless visor over his eyes and scars riddling what little exposed of his face. He carried a burden on his shoulders, but he was more surly and unsociable than even she had been when she first arrived.

 She hadn’t met the man for some time, as well as many of the other newer recruits, as Katya Volskaya had called her away on a mission that took her all over the world. Winston had made her promise not to expose any Overwatch secrets before she left, and it was easy to keep. Her mission did not correlate to Overwatch, and Volskaya asked nothing of it either. Yet she had spent months away from the base, and when she returned she had found several new people and faces and felt like she was new all over again.

Jesse was simply happy enough to have his late-night jamming partner back, and soon she fell back into her old routine, with some minor changes and attempts of opening up a little more these riffraff rapscallions that had become the closest thing to family she’s ever had.

But Zarya couldn’t disclose what she learned during her mission, and it gnawed inside her. No one asked, and so she did not say anything either. Not even about an extra little thing…

“I suppose we should head down and be at least presentable,” Zarya murmured, lifting her legs and moving them over his to set her feet onto the floor. Her balalaika went carefully back into the old leather case, closing it with a gentle snap.

“Oh, I suppose,” Jesse agreed with a groan, kicking his feet over the edge of the couch as well. He placed the guitar onto the couch, making sure it wouldn’t fall over before stretching his arms over his head, something popping along his spine. “Be rude not to say ‘hello’.”

The walk to the hangar was quiet, neither making much small talk as they went to join the others mingling. Hana was all but vibrating where she stood, even Lena was laughing. The ones waiting for their friends and family were waiting with anticipation, while the others simply smiled on- or playing with some sort of explosive as Junkrat was currently doing- Roadhog sitting vigil beside him while the black glass of his mask stared across the way as Zenyatta, the omnic monk’s legs folded under him as he sat on the floor.

Zarya folded her arms over her chest to keep herself from flexing her fingers in growing anxiety. She hadn’t told anyone that she would be having a visitor as well, planned to keep it as quiet as possible. It had been difficult sneaking things around Athena, but it wasn’t impossible, especially if discussions were only conducted in quiet tones in the nearby village through public means.

The bus rumbled into the hangar dripping in mud and water as it emerged from the rainy exterior. Lucio whooped, joined by Hana as they both rushed over to greet the bus as it stopped and the door opened. An entire pile of people came pouring out, the air being filled with several languages raising towards the steel beams above them as families and friends rushed over to chat and laugh with the Overwatch agents for the first time in who knows how long.

Zarya turned her eyes over the crowd, feeling worry gnaw at her stomach. Perhaps… they couldn’t make it after all…

A small hand tugged on the hem of her shirt, causing her to look down. A dark, round face of a child with wild, curly locks of hair beamed up at her, standing on their toes as they all but jumped up and down to tug on her shirt.

“LOOK!” was all they blurted out, the word thick with an accent as they jutted a chubby little finger over to the bus. She could hear 76 curse, some of the others tensing and ready for action, but Zarya’s feet were already moving to the all too familiar pale blue and green cloth, hood pulled over their face.

She swiped them off their feet, hood flying off their head as she crushed them into a hug that made their metal frame creak under her arms.

“You do realize that “bone-crushing hugs” only constitute if said recipient has bones,” the being- the _omnic_ \- stated, their voice conveying an air of sarcasm even as it crackled a little under the pressure.

She set them down back onto their feet, bent over to press her nose against the fabric of their shoulder, her arms still tight around their waist.

“Shut up, robot,” she mumbled into them, her words holding no heat to them. She could feel herself smiling into their shoulder, warmth in her veins. Somehow, the long distance calls and quiet comments couldn’t compare to being with them in person, bundling them up into her arms.

“Now hold up,” Jesse’s voice cut in, his drawl so thick she could almost cut it. “Who in Sam Hill is this?”

Zarya pulled away, blinking as she remembered herself. The visitors were all standing by their family and friends mixture of confused and smiling, but the agents of Overwatch were all staring agog at her. Junkrat had even dropped whatever it was he had been playing with, and Winston’s glasses had slid down his face. The only one who didn’t seem utterly bewildered was Zenyatta, who had his hands half raised to his face, clasped together in the only visible expression of pure joy an omnic could make.

“How did it even get on the bus?!” 76’s voice was a harsh growl, his footsteps sharp against the metal floors. He was furious, having his carefully crafted safety measures ruined by a single _omnic._

Ear-like sensors flicked, one perked and the other lopsided in an intrigued, curious way, yet slightly sarcastic way. Zarya was sure she heard Hana gasp, knowing that she would far be entranced by the cuteness of the sensors.

“I simply asked to hide in the dos Santos’ baggage.”

If 76 ground his teeth any tighter, he could grind glass back into sand. Jesse stifled a snort as two small wild-haired children giggled behind Lucio’s legs as the musician dropped his hands to their hair to ruffle.

“This is Lynx Seventeen,” Zarya introduced, awkward at the attention on them, chest bubbling with happiness and nerves. “They’re… my friend.” Everyone just _stared_ at her as if she had just grown a second head. Perhaps she may as well have. Zarya, the infamous omnic-disliker before the Junkers arrived, actually willingly made a friend out of the thing that she feared. She hadn’t even been very comfortable with the omnics on base, and yet she hugged Lynx like they were just a normal person. It threw everyone who knew her into a loop.

“I’m so happy for you!”

The omnic monk broke the awkwardness, floating over and almost glowing with happiness. Maybe Zenyatta really _was_ \- Zarya blinked, but the golden light disappeared with it. Perhaps she was just imagining things. “You’ve worked so hard to overcome your difficulties! I’m so glad at how much progress you’ve made in such a short time!”

Zarya shifted from foot to foot, feeling warmth creeping up across her cheeks. She couldn’t even bring herself to look at anyone, finding the floor much more interesting. She hadn’t realized how _embarrassingly flustering_ this would be.

“Met them during my mission,” she mumbled to her feet instead of acknowledging the compliment. “We… worked well together.”

It was silent for a heartbeat before voices exploded at all sides of her, asking questions, laughing loudly and cheering her on, Jesse slapping her back with his metal hand so hard that she knew she would have a bruise come morning. The small child that had greeted her before screaming the only word they knew in English, clapping their hands together in glee while the others of her team were demanding answers or prying for more details and comments over her omnic friend that no one had even known she had contact with, let alone befriended at all.

Zarya felt warm, metal fingers slip through hers, and she clung onto them to center herself, as they did with her, standing side by side with shoulders brushing as they navigated through the many questions and demands from her teammates and friends together.

Nothing felt more right.


End file.
